Senior Bowl North Squad punter Jeff Locke of UCLA (18) in the second quarter of the Senior Bowl College football game at Ladd-Peebles Stadium in Mobile, Ala., Saturday, Jan. 26, 2013. (AP Photo/G.M. Andrews)

Locke, 24, the Vikings’ fifth-round pick out of UCLA in last month’s NFL draft, this week signed a four-year contract that will pay him the rookie minimum salary of $405,000. He also received a signing bonus of $184,192.

Locke’s total contract, non-guaranteed except for the signing bonus, is worth $2,344,192 over four years.

Had he remained with the Vikings, Kluwe, 31, would have been paid $1.4 million next season.

Jack Morris, the former Twins pitcher from St. Paul, said he is having fun during his first season as broadcast analyst for the Toronto Blue Jays.

“The only thing better would be to be at home to sleep in my own bed,” the potential baseball hall of famer said.

“Toronto’s a great city; I’m grateful to be here,” Morris said. “The club’s struggled, but hopefully the hitting will start to come around and make the pitching look a little better.”

Morris, the MVP of the Twins’ 1991 World Series championship team, was a part-time radio analyst for the Twins for 10 seasons. For the Blue Jays, he will call 130 games on radio, 20 on TV.

“It keeps me involved in the game,” he said. “I’m way more on top of everything than I used to be because I’m there every day.”

Morris, by the way, was scheduled to be in Minneapolis on Thursday to promote a Harmon Killebrew hospice fundraiser on the Twins’ radio network. Thursday was Morris’ 58th birthday.

Chris Colabello continues to hammer the ball for the Twins’ Triple-A Rochester club.

Jim Rantz, then the Twins’ minor league director, gave the 29-year-old first baseman a chance two years ago by signing him after seven seasons of independent baseball.

“He’s having a heck of a year,” Rochester manager Gene Glynn said Thursday.

Against the Durham Bulls on Wednesday night, Colabello hit two home runs, each of more than 400 feet to center field, and a double. He drove in five runs in a 10-7 loss at the Red Wings’ Frontier Field.

Colabello hit another homer Thursday and drove in two more runs in a 6-5 victory over Durham.

“On most days, this is not an easy home run park,” Glynn said.

The 6-foot-4, 220-pound Colabello, who is hitting .346 with 11 homers and 13 doubles in 41 games, also played well for Italy in this spring’s World Baseball Classic, hitting two homers in five games.

“Everybody in baseball’s asking about him,” Glynn said. “He’s a great guy with a real appreciation for the game and the opportunity to be in organized baseball.”

Ex-Twins starter Sam Deduno, coming back from a groin injury, struck out eight and walked two in 6 1/3 innings for Rochester on Thursday. The Twins are closely watching Deduno’s strikeout/walks ratio. Against Durham, 55 of his 90 pitches were strikes.

Gophers football coach Jerry Kill was to address 350 fans in Redwood Falls, Minn., on Thursday afternoon, then head to Lake Elmo for an evening gathering. On Friday, Kill was to be in Mankato for a community outreach breakfast, then drive to New Ulm to speak at a luncheon.

White Bear Lake’s Ryan Carter of the New Jersey Devils was named Team USA’s player of the game in its 8-3 victory over Russia at the world hockey championships in Helsinki on Thursday.

Timberwolves game timer Tom Perrault of St. Paul had been asked by the NBA to work the clock in Memphis on Friday evening had the Grizzlies not eliminated Oklahoma City from the playoffs.

Plans are for Caleb Truax (21-1) of Osseo to fight Donavan George (24-3) of Chicago on an ESPN middleweight boxing match June 21 at the Minneapolis Convention Center.

Former St. Paul Saints reliever Caleb Thielbar has a streak of 10 1/3 scoreless innings for the Twins’ Triple-A Rochester club.

DON’T PRINT THAT

Joe Webb’s value to the Vikings, if he makes the team next season, is expected to be more as a kick returner than a wideout.

Christian Ponder is the NFL’s 24th-best quarterback, according to cbsSports.com‘s new rankings. The Packers’ Aaron Rodgers is No. 1.

Chuck Muncie, the former New Orleans Saints-San Diego Chargers running back who died of a heart attack at age 60 this week, was from Uniontown, Pa., and the brother of former Gophers Rose Bowl star running back Bill Munsey, who also died at age 60 from complications of a heart attack.

Bill Munsey, who died in 2002, was from Uniontown, the same town as teammate and Gophers All-American QB Sandy Stephens. For an unknown reason, Chuck Muncie changed the spelling of his last name, a relative said Thursday.

Muncie had an aborted comeback with the Vikings in 1985 and never played in a regular-season game with the team.

Vikings wideout Cordarrelle Patterson is among 40 rookies attending a NFL Players Association marketing and licensing seminar this weekend in Los Angeles. The Vikings’ other first-round draft picks — defensive tackle Sharrif Floyd and cornerback Xavier Rhodes — are not part of the of the marketing opportunity.

OVERHEARD

Rochester Red Wings manager Gene Glynn on first baseman Chris Colabello, who has 10 homers and 13 doubles in 40 games this season: “He’s a threat.”

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